For many soccer players, it would be a dream to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, even if it’s just for their youth division.
Anja Suttner lived out that dream with Bayern Munich.
Suttner, a sophomore center back for the Hofstra women’s soccer team, grew up in a small village in Germany called Binabiburg, home to around 650 people. Binabiburg is about an hour away from Munich, where she played for Bayern’s under-17 and under-20 teams.
“I still remember the first game we had,” said Suttner. “When I got the chance to wear the Bayern Munich jersey, the jersey of my favorite club, it just felt so unreal. I couldn’t realize that I was part of the team. It was always an honor to wear their jersey.”
As Suttner’s time with Bayern came to a close, she didn’t have a plan for after high school. However, Marlene Fries, who played alongside Suttner at Bayern and now at Hofstra, convinced her to move abroad to continue playing soccer.
“She told me about the opportunity to go to America,” Suttner said. “Hofstra told me and Marlene that we can both come and play for the team. Without Marlene I wouldn’t have come to America. I would have just stayed in Germany to study there and try to play for a professional team.”
Adjusting to life in America was not easy. While Suttner learned English for five years back in Germany, she said the language barrier was still the most difficult aspect of adapting to Hofstra. But she had plenty of support from her new teammates.
“The seniors now really helped us to adapt ourselves and also with some academic stuff,” Suttner said. “In the beginning, you’re just overwhelmed by everything, especially because of the language barrier. Our captains helped us a lot and they tried to do their best in order to help us.”
Suttner also had to adjust to a different playing style in the United States.
“Basically everything I was told in Munich was wrong here, and everything I was told here would be wrong in Munich,” Suttner said. “For example, for me as a center back, I was never allowed to go on dribblings back home. And here my coach just told me, ‘Anja, when you get the ball, just try to pass as many players as you can and try to move with the ball.’ Back home, that was the worst thing you could do. I had some difficulties with that in the beginning, but in the end, I got why [head coach] Simon [Riddiough] wanted to play that way.”
It didn’t take long for Suttner to adapt to American soccer, starting 20 of the Pride’s 22 games in her first season. She helped the Pride win their third straight Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship and appear in the NCAA Tournament. She also won a host of individual accolades, including the CAA Rookie of the Year and the CAA Co-Defender of the Year.
The Pride will have to wait a little longer to defend their CAA title with the fall season being suspended due to COVID-19. But whenever soccer is safe to return, Suttner is eager to get back on the field.
“The thing I look forward to most is the competition part of it,” Suttner said. “Also the team part of it, because I was part of a team my whole life, and I love being part of a team and not just on my own. That’s why I decided to play soccer: to be part of something bigger.”
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
